


Pirate Booty

by azure_horizon



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon, post-enemy at the gate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-05
Updated: 2011-05-05
Packaged: 2017-10-19 01:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azure_horizon/pseuds/azure_horizon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys are in Europe and Ronon thinks Carson's some kind of James Bond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pirate Booty

“How the bloody hell did you manage to talk me into this?” Carson complained again as he peered over the edge of the large dam. He gulped down past the lump of trepidation that rose in his throat. He remembered those first months in Atlantis – the edges of the high balconies had been hell and here he was, getting ready to jump off of something that made those balconies tiny in comparison. “Good Lord,” he mumbled again, taking a huge step backwards.

Ronon grinned beside him and clapped his hand on Carson’s shoulder, jarring the joint. Carson turned his eyes up to the Satedan and mock glared.

“James Bond did it.”

Carson narrowed his eyes and laughed.

“Aye, but James Bond had a stunt double.”

Ronon simply grinned and moved further along the dam to the area they’d be jumping off. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and run away and watch Ronon from the bottom of the dam. He didn’t do heights. Especially not heights when he could taste the electricity in the air from the electrical storm that was brewing on the not-so-distant horizon. But he’d paid two hundred and fifty non-refundable Euros so he was doing this.

Shit, he was doing this.

He’d never been any good at heights. He fell off a wall when he six and since then – nope, he didn’t do heights.

“You wanna go first, Bond?”

He shot a glare at Ronon and looked to the man behind him who was standing with the gear, waiting to attach it to whichever of them decided to go first. He chanced a glance down the dam again, to the pool of water at the bottom and wondered if that would be better than the concrete. He turned back to Ronon, narrowing his eyes at the Satedan’s expectant features and sighed. If he saw Ronon jumping...

He shook his head.

“I’ll go first.”

“That’s my man!” Ronon said as he punched Carson’s upper arm, almost numbing it.

“Aye.”

Carson said nothing as the Swiss surfer dude attached him to the bungee rope. He didn’t look down, or up or to the side. He couldn’t. He felt sick; his stomach a tight knot twisting in on itself and he really, really wondered how he’d managed to be talked into this. It was stupid of him to let Ronon look through the travel guides, it really was because not only had the Satedan wanted to ‘experience Amsterdam’, he’d found all of the things that Carson hadn’t even considered doing. He supposed it would make for a fun holiday, if he made it past this.

“That is you.”

Carson smiled sardonically to the surfer dude and took a step towards the edge, listening intently to the instructions the mentor rattled off. Fall, don’t jump. Keep your eyes open. Be as loud as you want. Fall, don’t jump, remember that.

Carson closed his eyes and tucked his toes around the platform – ah gangplank, he laughed – and tried to let gravity to its job, pulling back when he felt its effects.

“Oh God,” he murmured, opening his eyes to look up to the skyline. The sun shone on the dam but the dark clouds were gathering closer and closer. He really should have let Ronon go first. “I can do this,” he said as he thought of all he had faced back in Pegasus – he’d faced down the Wraith, for crying out loud!

“Come on, doc!” Ronon shouted and Carson turned to him and glared quickly before he closed his eyes and let himself fall over the edge.

He felt like he was flying.

\--

Ronon was practically bouncing off the walls by the time they made it to the nearest pub and Carson laughed.

“Can we do it again?”

Carson laughed but shook his head vehemently.

“Most definitely not!”

“You enjoyed it.”

“Aye, I did but it’s something I never wish to experience in my life ever again.”

Ronon smirked and turned to the bar when the tender appeared and ordered two beers and two burgers. It was all they had eaten, really, since they started on their journey five days before and Carson was finding it difficult to coax Ronon into trying some of the cultural delights of Europe.

“We should get one of them for Sheppard,” Ronon said as the tender poured their pints and Carson nodded.

“I think he’d gladly throw Rodney off it,” he laughed and shook his head. “This beats being stuck in that mountain, doesn’t it?”

Ronon nodded absently and tapped the bar, fiddling with the dreads that were tied up at the back of his head. They had gotten rather long, Carson thought as he noticed that they were well beyond half way down his back. They were thick, too, so they must be heavy but the Satedan didn’t seem to mind them.

“Thanks, man,” he said to bartender and handed him two twenties, telling him to keep the change. He’d obviously gotten used to life on Earth.

They took seats at the window and watched as the rain dropped from the sky; they’d made it in just in time, it seemed.

“How’re things with you and Amelia?” Carson asked suddenly, remembering the closeness between the Satedan and the young lassie while they’d been on Atlantis a couple weeks back, helping Sheppard and McKay with some anti-Wraith research.

Ronon quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

“What do you mean?” Carson lifted an amused eyebrow and he could have sworn he saw a blush rise up the big man’s cheeks. “Naw, man,” he said with a shrug, looking away. Carson grinned and tipped his pint in Ronon’s direction. “Naw,” he drawled again and Carson smirked, looking away.

“If you say so, son.”

Ronon shook his head and tried to hide his smile.

“Where we going after here?” Ronon asked as he pulled out a travel magazine from his bag and Carson rolled his eyes, smiling. The big guy was insatiable for thrills; no wonder he had been bored at the SGC.

“Well, I had wanted to see Paris again but I think I’ll wait ‘til I can go with someone who will appreciate the culture.”

“That’s where they cut off everyone’s heads, right?” Carson nodded and Ronon smiled contemplatively. “We should go there.”

“It was two hundred years ago, big man; they did away with the guillotine.” If Ronon ever pouted, it was in that moment, Carson thought as he laughed at the crushed expression on the Satedan’s face.

“So what’s the point in going there?”

Carson sighed again but smiled.

“It’s full of art and history and cult-“

“What about Germany? They’ve got a beer festival.”

Carson smiled indulgently and nodded, knowing that Paris had just been crossed off the list.

\--

Teyla sank into the overstuffed chair in her lounge and let out a long sigh. It had been a hard day at work dealing with customers and complaints while trying to complete her tasks; she did not understand why people insisted on behaving like animals simply because goods were reduced in price. Granted, she had picked few items up for herself, Torren and Kanaan but she had not attacked others in a bid to do so.

She smiled gratefully when a cup of steaming tea appeared before her eyes and she looked up to Kanaan with a smile of thanks as she took it.

“Did you have a good day, Teyla?”

She smiled sarcastically over the rim of her cup to Kanaan and he smiled, shaking his head slightly.

“I wonder sometimes if dealing with the IOA and the Wraith is not easier than end of season sales in department stores.” Kanaan smiled indulgently, though Teyla was aware that he didn’t truly understand since he had not taken a job since their arrival on Earth almost a year ago. They had both decided it would be best if someone stayed at home with Torren, even though their child went to ‘nursery’ a few mornings each week to help him interact with other children. “What about you?”

He nodded and sat back in his chair, taking a sip from his own cup of brew and he looked over the lines of his face and body. They had both joined the local gym and while Teyla had not had as much use out of it as she would have liked, Kanaan spent the morning he had free of Torren there and it showed. He was leaner, more toned and she saw the definition in his arms and legs increase each time they shed their clothes for bed at night; his face was more angular, sculpted and the shadow of bristles in the hollows of his cheeks only highlighted his prominent cheek bones. She wasn’t sure it was a look he wore well but she conceded that he was as handsome as he had ever been.

“Torren and I spent the day in the garden; he has taken to digging up the flower beds,” he said with amusement and Teyla smiled, shaking her head. She wished she could spend more time with her son, as he was growing up very quickly but she knew that she had to do what she was doing in order to secure a future that looked more and more likely would be played out on Earth. “Rodney and Jennifer have taken him out for some dinner – I did not think you would mind.”

Although she wished to see her son, she was pleased that the Jennifer and Rodney still wished to be an active part of his life. Since Jennifer had been replaced in Atlantis by someone “more qualified”, the young doctor had had more time on her hands as she tried to open her own practice but in the current economic downturn such happenings would most likely not happen for some time. Rodney, she knew, spent as much time with Jennifer as he could but since he had not been replaced as head of the science unit in Atlantis, it was difficult for him to get away, as it was for John.

On her last trip to Atlantis – where Rodney had almost killed her, again – she and John had tried to resolve some of their differences. She had made him aware of how unsettled she was, how let down she felt and he had conceded but had argued that taking it out on him was not the way they should be dealing with the issue. She knew this – she had known it at the time, too – but it was easy to assign blame, especially when his life remained unchanged. She knew that it must be difficult for him to be separated from herself and Ronon – like it had been difficult for her to extract herself from all of them – and that he enjoyed the times when they were together once again but she had also noticed that he had changed, slightly, become more open with those around him. He had seen his brother, he told her, and they were ‘making plans’ to see one another again and she had smiled, surprised, by the insight into his personal life. Once they had laid their differences aside, it was nice to enjoy the new ease with which John Sheppard conducted himself.

“Colonel Sheppard called,” Kanaan said and Teyla looked up at the name of the man she had only moments before been thinking of. John had insisted she and Kanaan call him John and while Kanaan used the name in person, he always referred to him as Colonel Sheppard. “He said he would call back later.” Teyla nodded and smiled, leaning her head back against the sofa. She knew it was futile to try to return the call as John only ever had his cell phone on him when he intended to make a call; as he said, he wasn’t used to using one again.

Besides, she had some news for him as well.

“What shall we do this evening?” She murmured as she closed her eyes, feeling fatigue seep into her bones. She felt Kanaan’s presence before he sat on the edge of the chair, his hand falling to her hair. She opened her eyes and looked up to him, smiling slowly at the expression on his face.

“I can think of a few things,” he murmured as he leaned down to claim her lips.

Teyla smiled against his lips and drew him closer to her.

“As can I.”

\--

She woke later, to the sound of someone knocking on the door and she made to push herself up before she heard Kanaan move around down the stairs. She smiled slowly and sank back into the welcoming warmth of the bed for a few moments; she would need to see Jennifer and Rodney before they left, no matter how much she wanted to sleep. She heard her son’s incessant prattle and she smiled sleepily into the pillow.

Her cell phone vibrated on the floor next to her bed and she groaned, looking at the clock; she was sure John would call the house but perhaps he thought Torren asleep, so had not wanted to wake him and called her cell instead. She contemplated ignoring it but he had called earlier so he must wish to speak with her so she slid an arm out of the bed and fumbled for the vibrating cell and pulled it to her ear.

“Teyla!” It was not John but it was a voice that was familiar none-the-less. “You’re not going to believe this.”

She sat up, suddenly pensive at the tone in Carson’s voice. Had something happened?

“Carson, what is wrong?”

She could hear Carson making a few excited sounds over the line and she frowned; he was in Europe, so it must be very late over there. She smiled and shook her head; they had probably just had too much to drink.

“It’s Ronon... he’s... He’s... well, he’s gone crazy.”

Her candour was replaced with worry and she felt tension seep into her bones. Had Ronon taken his gun with him to Europe? Had he beat someone up – or worse, had he killed someone? All of these were possibilities, she knew but-

“Carson, what has happened?” She asked, alarmed.

“He’s cut off his dreads!” It took a moment for the words to register and when they finally did, she let out a loud laugh, trying to picture Ronon without his dreadlocks. An image of him, completely bald like Mr Woolsey, appeared in her head but she pushed it away, frightened at the thought. “They’re gone! Completely gone! He looks like Johnny Depp!”

Teyla pictured the man who had played the pirate in that movie and wondered how Ronon losing his dreadlocks would make him look more like the man. She shook her head, still smiling.

“Carson, is it not very late over there?”

She could imagine him nodding frantically, grinning, maybe trying to touch Ronon’s hair. It was a pleasant image.

“Aye but the whole world needs to hear this!”

He hung up then and Teyla pulled the cell phone away from her ear, slowly. She grinned at the blank screen and shook her head. As she pulled on her robe, she heard Rodney’s cell phone ringing down the stairs and she smiled.

Ronon without his dreadlocks – she could not imagine.


End file.
